Mac's Picks is a collection of family friendly interesting and useful sites, updated weekly. These sites may be search engines, medical resources, household hints, educational resources, recipe sites, sites I call "head scratchers", and/or new sites dealing with all kinds of things of use to the general internet community. To find the criteria I use, simply click on the "Why and How Info" link on the right side of this page.

This page is updated on a weekly basis, each Tuesday evening Australian (Queensland) time (GMT + 9 hours according to the world clock). Please come back and visit often.

Important Note: If you are returning to my page, welcome back! Please click your "Refresh" or "Reload" button on the top of your Internet browser to ensure you are seeing the current week's page of my "Picks of the Week". Also, I would love for you to make my site your home page. Simply click on Tools - Options in Explorer, or Edit - Preferences in Netscape, and click Use Current and it's done.

If you are a frequent visitor to my little site you will already know that I applaud and award sites that use technology, in particular Internet technology, for the good of all humankind. One such institution that goes even farther in the pursuit of assistance to the world population with technology owns and maintains the site called Welcome to AccessIT - National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education. These folk, AccessIT, "promote the use of electronic and information technology (E&IT) for students and employees with disabilities in educational institutions at all academic levels". To me that is very worthy of an award and to be a Pick of the Week. Well done and may other IT professionals and education professionals join with them in this effort.

If you are still in school you no doubt still have the dreaded homework to do. The net is a fantastic resource of information to help you complete that homework as part of your education. However, ensuring that the information you access is reliable can be a problem. However, there are sites devoted to just that subject, and the Homework Helper refdesk.com site is one of the better ones. It is run by RefDesk which is a site composed of reference materials for all to use. This particular part of their site is geared to help you complete those homework assignments with the best information there is. If I were in school (at any level) I would bookmark Refdesk, and in some cases, the homework helper site for future use.

The wonderful technology television show called "Call for Help!" is back on the air with a new crew of presenters, and of course Leo LaPort running the show. One of his new co-presenters is a young woman known as Aamber Mac who has her own site at Aamber Mac homepage, and it definitely is worth a look. She finds all kinds of sites of interest and tweaks to your normal computer programs that can help you be more efficient. Have a look and see what you think. I think she has a bright future.

You know I always have new recipe sites for you to see and this week is no exception. I must admit that my personal taste was pleasantly surprised when my family and I tried Thai food. And now, the Thai Recipes Kitchen - ImportFood.com site shows us how we can do the same thing at home. Tasty stuff - give it a try.

We are all, in one way or another, surrounded by water. In the North American continent the fresh water not only is reasonably plentiful, but also has its own ecosystems and its own animals. If you've ever wondered just what could be in the fresh water around your area, hop over to the Aquatic Animals site and browse around. It shows you all kinds of fresh water animals, mostly in North America. some interesting wildlife here.

Have you ever had one of those days when things go wrong with your system and you simply can't figure out what's happening with it? If you do become that unfortunate, hop over to the Cyberwalker - Tech Help That's Really Helpful site, have a look around, and most likely you'll solve your problem. Seriously, this is a great site to bookmark and to visit often to keep up to date with what could happen. Learn what to do before you need to know.

Many of us download and install shareware of some kind and use it on our systems. I know I have lots of programs that I've tried out this way, and if I find them to be useful, I pay the small registration fee and use the program. Want to know what's available? Hop over to the Free Downloads at TopShareware.com - Software and Free Game Downloads site, browse around, and if you see something you need, download it and give it a try. Enjoy.

And if you worry that something might open your browser to attack from the net, after installation (or when you suspect something strange is happening) hop over to the VeriSign - Browser Check site and let them check to see how vulnerable you really are. It's amazing what information about us and our systems we broadcast all over the world, but don't panic. If this site gives you a clean bill of health, the little information about us that's out there really isn't worth worrying about. Give it a try though. You never know. You might be sending out information you really shouldn't.

I admit that I'm a bit of a science/techo freak. I sit and read three magazines a month that I subscribe to about the Internet, and also read sites like the Google News Australia - Sci-Tech site to keep informed about what is happening in the technology world. If it interests you to know what is just around the corner, or what breakthrough has been made, then bookmark this one and visit it often.

One of the pieces of software I recently tried out is so small, yet so good, I have to share it with you. It's called Screamer Radio and when you download and install it, it allows you to listen to streaming radio programs from around the world, stations that deal with all kinds of subjects, including almost every music genre you can think of. Ok, nothing new about that? Even the fact that it's free? *shrugs* Maybe the fact that it also allows you to record what you are hearing, including the song title and songwriter in MP3 format? Have a look. I think it's great. What a great way to fill up that MP3 player you have with your kind of sound. Enjoy.

One of the things I believe in is the homogenous blending of the different races, religions, and societies on this tiny green orb. Thus, the Tolerance.org site, which talks about using tolerance of others beliefs and customs, is what I feel all of our societies need. If you feel the same way, hop over to this site and have a look.

Interested in new writers? How about one single writer that you've possibly never heard of before? I know I didn't know anything about the author who publishes The Ultimate Codex of Twoflowerian Fiction but now, having gone there and been introduced, cyberly of course, to Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne and been shown, in his words, "this is what I've been doing for the last ten years" I now know that he writes some good, some ok, science fiction. Great little site to browse through and you'll also find some good parody of science fiction as well. Have a look and see what you think.

Rebecca Game of "Digital Women - Women with their modems running...", is a graphic designer who is superb to say the least. Rebecca designed this "new look" web site specifically for me, and I can't praise her work enough. Her site, dedicated to women on the net, is worth seeing and bookmarking for future reference. If you are looking for links of interest to women, please visit her site. And if you need the best graphic designer on the planet, I seriously can't recommend her more highly. Oh yes, and when you visit her site, tell her Mac sent you. Thank you Rebecca. I am eternally grateful for your assistance and expertise. ;-)